FEATURED ARTICLES ABOUT ELENA KAGAN - PAGE 4

President Barack Obama interviewed Judge Diane Wood of Chicago on Tuesday as he nears a decision on whom to nominate for the Supreme Court seat being vacated by Justice John Paul Stevens. Wood, 59, was a finalist last year when Obama selected Judge Sonia Sotomayor as his first Supreme Court pick. Like her, Wood is a veteran appeals court judge who was appointed by President Bill Clinton. A source close to the appointment process said Wood also met with Vice President Joe Biden.

If you're an unmarried woman over 40, you're probably gay. If you are an unmarried woman over 40 carrying 15 extra pounds, you are totally gay. If you are a stocky, unmarried woman of whatever age who plays softball — gay, gay, gay. And if you're that woman who's also smarter than most of the boys? Beyond gay, sweetheart. You are scary. Poor Elena Kagan. She fits the mindless stereotype of a lesbian so well that there's probably no way she could have avoided the kerfuffle this week over her sexual orientation.

Random mating With Scott Lee Cohen's announcement Wednesday of campaign aide Baxter Swilley as his running mate, we wondered how the independent gubernatorial hopeful arrived at his selection. After all, the name "Baxter Swilley," while not made-up, certainly sounds like it could be. So, with the help of a random name generator (chicagotribune.com/random), we too have selected five possible running mates: 1. Newton Vandesteeg 2. Deangelo Oyston 3. Pearlie Gusler 4. Javier Wojciechowski 5. Penelope McLucas Congratulations!

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Supreme Court on Tuesday said U.S. copyright holders cannot block the resale inside the country of products they make elsewhere, a major case affecting the annual importation of tens of billions of dollars of gray market goods. By a 6-3 vote, the country's highest court said the "first sale doctrine" applies to copies of a copyrighted work lawfully made abroad. The decision will provide support for the $63 billion gray market, in which third parties import brand-name goods protected by trademark or copyright into the United States.

The Supreme Court gave Wheaton College a temporary exemption from birth control coverage required by President Barack Obama's health reform law, days after ruling that for-profit employers can opt out for religious reasons. The court said on Thursday in a split 6-3 decision by the justices that Wheaton College, which has objected on religious grounds, did not have to comply with the government compromise process for nonprofit groups with religious affiliations while litigation continues, an unsigned order showed.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court gave a Christian college in Illinois a temporary exemption from birth control coverage required by President Barack Obama's health reform law, days after ruling that for-profit employers can opt out for religious reasons. The court said on Thursday in a split 6-3 decision by the justices that Wheaton College, which has objected on religious grounds, did not have to comply with the government compromise process for nonprofit groups with religious affiliations while litigation continues, an unsigned order showed.

In the latest battle over star faculty at top-tier law schools, Harvard University has wooed away Cass Sunstein from the University of Chicago. Sunstein is an influential scholar on constitutional law and other issues who more recently has gained attention as an adviser to Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama. Sunstein will begin teaching at Harvard Law School in the fall, Elena Kagan, its dean, said Tuesday. "Cass Sunstein is the pre-eminent legal scholar of our time -- the most wide-ranging, the most prolific, the most cited and the most influential," Kagan said in a statement.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers says it has more evidence indicating the dreaded Asian carp is in Lake Michigan, making the announcement hours after the U.S. Supreme Court decided not to force Illinois to do more to keep the fish out of the lake. The Corps says researchers combing the Calumet Harbor near Lake Michigan for the presence of Asian carp have found two DNA samples that seem to indicate the invasive fish has already breached the lake near Chicago. One sample was in Calumet Harbor a half-mile north of the Calumet River; the other was in the Calumet River north of the O'Brien Lock.

By Lawrence Hurley WASHINGTON, Feb 12 (Reuters) - It has been three years since U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito seized the limelight during one of President Barack Obama's State of the Union speeches. He has not been back since. The annual address on Tuesday marked the third year in a row that Alito has not attended the event. He was one of three justices - the others being fellow conservatives Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas - who were no-shows. Alito's decision not to attend was no surprise, in particular because his mother, Rose, died last week at the age of 98. Her funeral took place in Hamilton, New Jersey, on Monday, according to an online obituary in a local newspaper.